Forgive me while I tell you about more good news regarding the books - yes, both books! - since this past week was filled with even more terrific news than usual.
I guess that the Festivus fairies are working overtime this year around...
Matt Zuras at Vice Munchies accompanied JH and me on a fabulous tour of Flushing's Chinatown in Queens last September, ate more than he was legally required to do, and lived to tell the tale.
I love this article because Matt really asked great questions, chowed down anything I nudged toward him, and turned out to be one heck of a person to roam the streets with out in the wilds of NYC. He also is a fabulous writer and good people. I now want to move to Flushing, by the way. Just saying.
The lovely and talented folks over at the San Francisco Chronicle food section - and I'm specifically talking about you, Sarah Fritsche - included All Under Heaven in its list of favorite cookbooks for 2016.
I've violated all sorts of promises this year by buying more cookbooks, and who really can blame me when you look at the roster here? I mean, this is one amazingly cool crowd to hang out with. Yes, I'm still a nerd. Thanks for asking.
And then the Wall Street Journal went and loved the bejeezus out of The Dim Sum Field Guide. In "Dim Sum: The Delicious Diaspora," Adrian Ho generously praised this little book as "extensive and satisfying."
So happy these two books are being enjoyed. Thank you to Matt, Sarah, and Adrian, and thanks to all of you who have made this year so utterly wonderful!
* * *
‘Tis
the season to be making turkey and all the trimmings, so I thought I’d crack
out my own way with this most American of all meals. By which I mean, of
course, that we eat this with a decidedly Chinese range of flavors and
ingredients.
For
decades now, I have been making variations on the following Chinese turkey.
What it basically boils down to is a richly seasoned marinade that goes heavy
on the aromatics, so that our house smells like heaven by the time we sit down
to eat.
At
first I started out with a simple mixture of soy sauce, ginger, rice wine, and
sesame oil. But then other things started to wend their way into the marinade,
and what we have here is one of my favorites. It’s not too salty or sweet or
overpowering – in fact, I think it’s just perfect. A thick layer of onions and
carrots under the bird provides me with an extra no-fuss vegetable dish, and
you can double or triple the carrots for more veggies, toss in some parsnips or
mushrooms, if you wish, and really turn this part of the meal into as fancy a
deal as you like.
Having
all those vegetables in there does more than supply you with what seems like a
free side dish, for all their flavors mix in with the turkey juices and
marinade as the bird cooks. You end up with a great sauce that can be easily
turned into gravy, or you can do as I do and sneak it off to the side to
enhance soups and other dishes over the next couple of days.
I’ve
also come to enjoy the ease that comes with spatchcocking the bird instead of
leaving it whole or even stuffing it. Instead of hours in the oven that dry out
the white meat and having to deal with carving the turkey at the table, I
simply remove the backbone and flatten the bird, which then only requires a bit
over an hour to roast. Have an instant meat thermometer handy to ensure that
the dark meat is completely done, too, as this cuts out lots of the guesswork.
Another
really good reason why you should cook a turkey this way is that you will not
need to baste it. Really! Your oven stays nice and hot the whole time, which in
turn crisps the skin up. Do note that the skin on the breast will brown, almost
alarmingly dark in places, but that’s just the sugars in the marinade. Have no
fear, it will be delicious.
Below
the turkey recipe here you’ll find my favorite cranberry sauce. It’s not
Chinese at all, but rather a mishmash of Californian influences, with the
secret ingredient being jalapeño peppers in adobo. This ends up being not as
frighteningly hot as it probably sounds, and these are so mild that I actually
toss in at least 4 or 5 of the chiles and as much of the adobo sauce as I think
I can get away with at the dinner. You may, of course, adjust it to fit your
own palate.
I
once gave a jar of this to someone as a gift, and she said that a friend of
hers sat there and ate the whole thing, spooning it in until it was all gone.
So, people do like it.
I’ll
be attempting to add more holiday favorites to the blog over the following
weeks so that you can ramp up your preparations for whatever festivities you
have in mind. All of these dishes are designed for 6 to 8 people, with
leftovers, because what is a holiday feast without all those good things
hanging out in the fridge for easy gluttony?
Turkey Chez Huang
Huángjiā huŏjī 黃家火雞
Serves
6 to 8, with lots of leftovers
1
young, unbrined turkey, about 12 to 14 pounds
½
cup Shaoxing rice wine
5
tablespoons light soy sauce
¼
cup oyster sauce
2
tablespoons agave syrup or honey
2
tablespoons toasted sesame oil
6
cloves garlic, finely minced
½
cup thinly sliced fresh ginger
6
green onions, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths
1
cup unsalted stock (see Tips)
Spray
oil
3
large yellow onions, peeled and sliced into thin wedges
8
or so carrots, peeled and left long, but split into wedges if they are too
thick
¼
cup softened salted butter
1.
Defrost the turkey in the refrigerator according to the package directions –
usually a couple of days are needed for a rock-hard bird. Remove any giblets
and the neck from the turkey, and then use large tweezers or needle-nose pliers
to remove any pinfeathers. Wipe the bird down with paper towels.
2.
Place the bird on a plastic cutting board with the backbone facing you. Use a
sharp knife (I use my handy wide Chinese blade) to cut down through the ribs on
either side of the spine from the neck down to the thigh joints, and then up
from the tail to the thighs. Use your blade to cut between the joints on either
side – this makes the removal of the backbone really easy, since you don’t have
any major bones to whack through.
3.
Flip the bird over so that the breast is now facing you. Press the heels of
both your hands down firmly and repeatedly on the breastbone, as if you were
trying to revive the turkey, but since the bird is now dead will merely serve
to break the breastbone and flatten the bird to a certain degree. The bird will
now be floppy. Flatten out the legs so that they sprawl evenly on either side
of the body – this is important, because if the thighs stay perched up against
the breast, they will not cook through quickly. Fold the wings back over
themselves to compact them and prevent them from drying out in the oven.
4.
Set the turkey in a pan wide enough to hold it easily. Mix together the soy
sauce, oyster sauce, agave syrup or honey, sesame oil, and garlic, and then rub
this marinade into both sides of the turkey, paying special attention to the
meaty bits. Add the ginger and green onions. Flatten the bird in the pan, cover
with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, then turn it over and
refrigerate for at least another 12 hours. If you have the time and energy,
turn the bird over a couple of more times. I also add the neck and backbone to
the pan, if they fit. If not, the backbone can be cut in half and the extras
stashed into a smaller pan – rub these with the marinade, since you will want
to either nibble on them or add them to the stockpot later on. If you want the
giblets, stash them in with the turkey.
5.
The turkey will need around 1 hour to come to room temperature before you place
it in the oven, a little over 1 hour to cook, and another 20 minutes to rest
after cooking. So, about 2 hours and 30 minutes before dinnertime, remove the
turkey from the refrigerator and let it sit in a cool place to remove much of the
chill. Heat your oven to 450°F / 230°C. Pour off and reserve the marinade, but
discard the ginger and green onions. Clean out the pan, wipe it dry, and oil
both the pan and a rack.
6.
Sprinkle the onions and carrots (and any other vegetables you’re using) over
the bottom of the pan and set the rack on top of them. Arrange the turkey
attractively skin-side up on the rack, so that it lies as flat as possible. Rub
the butter all over the skin. Place the pan in the oven and roast it until a
instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads
165°F / 74°C, which means that the turkey is now cooked to perfection – this
will usually take just a little bit over an hour, depending upon your oven.
Tips
Get
a really good quality turkey, not one of those supermarket specials that are
filled with water and hormones and all sorts of evil things.
For
the stock, I usually end up using the water in which black mushrooms were
soaked. These make an appearance in the Sticky Rice Stuffing My Way, and I’ll
post that recipe here soon too. It’s a winner.
To
carve a spatchcocked bird, simply cut off the thighs from the bird and then cut
up the legs as you like. Remove the wings and then cut down on either side of
the breastbone to remove the white meat, which then can be sliced crosswise
into juicy pieces. Drizzle a little of the turkey juices over everything, if
you are in the mood.
Cranberries Casa Huang
Huángjiā xiăhóngméi jiàng 黃家小紅莓醬
Makes
about 3 cups / 750 ml
12
ounces / 340 g fresh cranberries
1
small orange, chopped into small dice
1
cup water
Agave
syrup or rock sugar to taste (it will take a LOT more than you expect)
3
or more chipotle chiles adobo (smoked chiles in a sauce), finely chopped, or
smoked paprika to taste, or ground chile peppers plus Liquid Smoke to taste
Sea
salt to taste
1
cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1.
Rinse the cranberries and toss out any imperfect ones. Add the orange and
water. Bring this to a boil over high heat and the reduce the heat to maintain
a simmer. Start adding agave syrup or sugar until it is as sweet as you like.
2.
Simmer the cranberries for about 20 minutes, or until the oranges are cooked
through. Stir in the chiles, salt, and walnuts. Bring to a boil and then remove
from the heat. This can be made a week or so ahead of time and even preserved
like a jam, or frozen, if you prefer.
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The
latest issue of the culinary world’s oldest and certainly finest academic
journals, Gastronomica, includes my study
on modern dim sum history, a personal pet project I’ve been working on for, oh,
a couple of years. 
And
if all that wasn’t enough, how about actually sitting down and having dim sum
with me and a bunch of other food lovers while I natter on about how much I love teahouse snacks?
This
is a celebration and fundraiser for the LDEI Karola Saekel Craib Excellence in
Food Journalism awards. I will be in conversation with the lovely and talented
Sarah Fritsche of the San Francisco
Chronicle, and I’ll also lead you through a delightful luncheon featuring
fine teas and a wide range of savory and sweet dim sum treats. 
